Team Heretics Clinch 2025 VALORANT Esports World Cup Title

Team Heretics, the winner of the 2025 VALORANT Esports World Cup (Image Credit: EWC)

Team Heretics have emerged as the champions of the 2025 VALORANT Esports World Cup, defeating Fnatic 3-2 in a thrilling best-of-five grand final hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The win not only marks Heretics’ first-ever international VALORANT trophy but also delivers a poetic twist of redemption against the very team that reverse-swept them last year during the Champions Tour EMEA Stage 1.

Fnatic came into the series with momentum, crushing Team Heretics in the first two maps. They claimed a dominant 13-4 win on Lotus and followed it up with a ruthless 13-1 victory on Sunset. At that point, it looked like a clean sweep was on the cards, with Fnatic’s synergy and firepower overwhelming the Spanish roster.

But Team Heretics weren’t ready to give up the fight. The tide shifted dramatically on Icebox, where Heretics clawed back with a 13-11 win, setting the stage for a remarkable comeback. They carried that momentum into Haven and Ascent, securing back-to-back 13-10 wins to complete one of the most memorable reverse sweeps in VALORANT history.

This victory is a particularly sweet one for Team Heretics. The squad had come close to major wins before, falling in the grand finals of both VALORANT Masters Shanghai and the 2024 VALORANT Champions. This time, however, they didn’t let history repeat itself.

Mert “Wo0t” Alkan of Turkey was named the MVP of the tournament, with standout plays across all maps. Lithuanian player Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukasevicius was also pivotal, dropping 21 kills in the final map and leading the scoreboard in key rounds.

Fnatic's path to the finals was solid, finishing first in Group D and eliminating Karmine Corp and Paper Rex in the playoffs. But their performance in the final three maps exposed cracks in their coordination. Despite flashes of brilliance from Austin “crashies” Roberts and Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov, they couldn’t hold back Heretics' late-game surge.

On the other hand, Team Heretics finished second in Group C and had to work through a tougher playoff bracket, defeating BBL Esports and Gen.G to reach the grand final. Their victory not only earns them the championship trophy and a $500,000 prize but also 1,000 Club Points — putting them in strong contention for the EWC Club Championship later this year.

According to Esports Charts, this grand final drew a peak viewership of 451,808, the highest of the entire VALORANT World Cup segment. The tournament overall logged over 8.2 million hours watched, with an average of 163,726 viewers across approximately 51 hours of airtime.

The stakes of the event were high, and the $1.2 million prize pool distribution was as follows:

• 1. Team Heretics, $500,000 (1,000 Club Points)

• 2. Fnatic, $230,000 (750)

• 3. Gen.G Esports, $130,000 (500)

• 4. Paper Rex, $70,000 (300)

• 5-8. Sentinels, Karmine Corp, NRG, BBL Esports, $40,000 (200)

• 9-12. Bilibili Gaming, DRX, Rex Regum Qeon, EDward Gaming, $25,000

• 13-16. G2 Esports, XLG Esports, Titan Esports Club, 100 Thieves, $15,000

The tournament format featured 16 of the world’s best VALORANT teams, grouped into four double-elimination brackets. The top two from each group advanced to the playoffs, which culminated in a single-elimination knockout leading to the best-of-five grand final.